incongruous greens

the weather outside is, indeed, frightful—gray, cold, and rainy with an icy wind that feels like it’s bringing snow our way.
and yet . . . we have fresh-picked greens from what’s left of our garden.

various colors of chard and a pile of zen greens as well; quite a haul, actually. enough for a quiche to bring to the knitting christmas party on monday and a meal of eggs-n-greens for us at home (maybe tonight; my mouth is watering for it now), plus, the zen greens will be delicious in a curry over the weekend, along with the last of the tomatoes i’ve been ripening under newspaper on the pool table.

i didn’t set out purposefully to be a winter farmer, but i’ll take what i can get as far into winter as the weather permits. and i’m in complete awe that the greens plants we are harvesting from now are the very ones i first planted from seeds back in may—the few dollars we paid for those seeds was very well spent. i think my mom spent at least that much on the greens for just one thanksgiving meal.

i can’t help but make a comparison to the greens we have going on inside the house

david put up the christmas tree last night.
we can’t allow our house to be the only blah one on our corner, when bret already has his decked out in all it glory (the warmth of the thanksgiving holiday inspired a decorating transformation all along our street, actually). more on his house later in the month; i want to be sure he’s really done before i take pictures, heh.

having the tree up is nice, even if it’s a bit early—its proximity to my knitting chair makes it feel just a bit warmer in the living room (the coldest part of the house), which makes me want to spend more time there, so that’s good.

in non-green news, my second red scarf is about one-third of the way to completion

i just love how this stitch pattern is working out—it lays nice and flat and looks very handsome in briar rose charity (the abundance yarn is a very close substitute, BTW; almost the same weight).

the excitement is building in the knitspot ravelry group for the red scarf emergency KAL—completed scarves are beginning to show up by the hour.
yesterday i posted the prize list for the final drawing. thanks to our generous sponsors, it will, indeed, be a joyous finale on december 16th.
come join us if you have a few evenings to spare for scarf knitting—it really REALLY doesn’t take much time at all to whip one up and participants are having a blast.

for those that are already knitting, melissa very kindly pointed us to a source for gift tags and wrappers to ready your red scarf gift with a nice finishing touch that still allows the packers to see the scarf when they put it together with other appropriate items in a care package.

i’ve been working on my scarf a little here and a little there, usually after my brain has had its fill of more complicated knitting for the day. for instance, late last night while we watched TV, i worked on my second flaming desire sock for a while

but when my eyes tired of that, i pulled out the scarf and added about six inches to it, just by knitting for half an hour longer (it truly is one of those that makes me do “one more row” until i drop).

so, what else have i been knitting? well, i’m finally over the hump on the henley and have been working my way up the second sleeve

so far, so good. i think my henley mojo is back and working in the right order now. once my replacement skeins of superwash sport arrive from catherine at knitting notions (they are on the way, yay) i’ll start the front yet again. fourth time is the charm, right??

i also gave in and ripped out my cornrows hat to make a bigger one. after wearing it for the photos the other day, i decided i really do want it to be a bit bigger, the way the pattern is written

sigh, hats are just my personal waterloo—one try is never enough, no matter how many of them i knit for myself. i have an unusually small, hard-to-fit head and i’m really fussy about the way they feel and look. it’s just hard to get the right proportion every time with whatever worked before.

i’m wearing my holidazed socks today and i gotta tell you—they are WARM, in a good way. i dunno if it’s the yarn or the stitch pattern or a combination, but i now have a new standard for sock warmth (the holy grail around here in winter, as far as i’m concerned).

i am striving for a new height in my personal sock collection—good, warm, not-to-thick socks. i’m going to be experimenting . . . i have some favorites already that have proven themselves along with several new-to-me yarns to try. i just need to search out some more stitch patterns of the type i love best—knit/purl combos or similarly-solid ones that preferably form little air pockets in the fabric.

i’ll still be designing fun-to-knit, lacy, thinner socks for spring and summer, but for right now, i need warm ones for actual daily wear.

speaking of fun socks—today’s mail delivered two skeins of dye dreams yarn for upcoming projects

the first is a skein of their new classy sox (merino/cashmere/nylon, mmm) in a mix of cheerful oranges for a sock design to kick off the next volume of the dye dreams four seasons sock club 2010

oooh, look—ann budd will also be designing, along with JC brair—two of my favorite people! ok, now i am officially over-excited—and i have to think of something good to knit with this yarn (or challenge ann budd and JC to a duel or a mud fight in the hopes of lessening the competition . . . ).

yeah, right; like i could take either of them down.

and when they sent me the samples for the orange, they snuck in a tempting gray, knowing my penchant for that color. this is a beautiful greenish-gray that reminds me of NYC and the patina that the buildings acquire over time there.

i have had a neckwarmer design in my queue since early last spring, which has been patiently waiting for the right yarn to come along and this is it. it’s perfect for the design; i may cast on for that in the next few days.

i am also just itching to cast on a little lace triangle with my handspun cashmere/silk yarn—it is shouting at me loud and clear, but i’m just not quite ready with a design idea. i know exactly what i want inside my head in a sort of epehemeral way, but when i look for stitch patterns, i’m coming up with zilch to bring my idea to life (hint: i have pine cones on the brain). i’m also toying with an idea to make ivy vines into a little triangle shawl—i just love the stitch patterns in that, too. and somehow for me, they are imbued with the kind of christmas-sy (but not too) pine cone-ness i’m seeking for this piece. am i crazy??

wait—don’t answer that.

well, i think i need to wrap this up for today—i’ve got a sink full of greens that must be good and clean by now and need to be put away. and, of course, there’s always knitting and work to do . . .